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I agree, S&S. When people toss out the word "bullying" to describe any behavior that offends them, they are diluting the legitimate claims of bullying and making it less likely that they will be taken seriously.

Judging from the general accuracy of horse heights given in ads, that horse could easily be anywhere from 13 to 16 hands, LOL.

It's just the kinder, gentler society these days. Can't hurt precious' wittle fweelings. This is why there is no-score soccer for kids and everyone gets ribbon in 4H now, all blues and reds, no other color.

COTH's official mini-donk enabler

"I am all for reaching out, but in some situations it needs to be done with a rolled up news paper." Alagirl

I sympathize about the OP's encounter with me-so-hurt-you-so-cruel online girl games, but you did kind of ask for it. Asking about the horse's height wasn't bullying, but it's a variety of pointless verbal prodding that really came into its own with the internet and could probably use its own little word. God knows, it isn't confined to the internet - every time you try to say "Nice day," as a throwaway and someone intones "It's actually quite damp if you know anything about the dew point," you've encountered a pointless prodder.

Let us go with this and believe that she is has been taught this. No biggy. Just explain to the people asking what it means to you instead of typing a huge long paragraph about how mean everyone is.

A simple, "I am sorry for the confusion, this is how I was taught to right it. The horse is 14 and a half hands tall so 14 hands 2 inches" would have ended the discussion and everyone would be happy.

Because she didn't care to ask hubby how his system worked. She simple regurgitates his bull$shit measurement system because she's too lazy to figure out what the rest of the universe uses to measure horses.

Honestly, I'd have itchy fingers too, but I'd be damned sure to avoid that seller like the plague. If she cant' measure a horse, and can't comment on a common vice other than to make generalizations, how do we know the healthcare, hoofcare, dental care, etc. was up to par?

She may as well have been hopping up and down saying "I'm an idjit!! Come buy my horseeee!"

It's just the kinder, gentler society these days. Can't hurt precious' wittle fweelings. This is why there is no-score soccer for kids and everyone gets ribbon in 4H now, all blues and reds, no other color.

Not in my area. Classes are placed like any other show. Reds and Blues are added to determine things like qualifying for state fair, etc. (Reds and blues at 4-h are not fist and second in this case. They are a ranking for effort and such.)

there's no point at all in asking someone to clarify the height of their horse in an ad in writing- you have to go look. I went horse-shopping once with a person who, due to his personal height and body structure, really wanted a horse who was of leggy svelte TB build between 16 and 17 hh high. Well, the number of horses advertised as 16 + hh who turned out to be somewhere in the 15 hh range, and occasionally even shorter, was rather alarming. Even if you were careful to emphasize the need to get a horse of particular height over the phone or in writing, it didn't make any difference.

anyone educated in the decimal mathematics system is bound to make mistakes with the archaic "hands" system of measurement, so I would cut people some slack there. I think we should move on from it and just use cm's high at the withers.

It's called the Danish System. It is supposed to have 3 ranking levels: blue, red and white. Blue for entries that have exceeded class requirements, red for entries that have met class requirements, white for entries that have not met class requirements. Some places also give a champion and reserve. Some counties have a policy of never giving whites, which does defeat the system. It is suppose to level the playing field so it is not of a competition of who can afford the best, but who is doing well with what they have. I appreciate it on some levels, but it can backfire, especially in counties where they don't allow judges to use the white rating.

Given the post was public, and the tone may have detracted from the seller being able to sell the horse, I can see where it may have crossed the line and been a tad on the bullying side of things...or if not bullying, then not in the spirit of the posts intent.

There is a European site that advertises horses using hands and decimals rather than hands and inches. It seems like a very petty thing for people to get so worked up about. In general, when shopping for a $500 horse, I think you can guess the measurement is at best an estimate anyway.

Strictly playing devil's advocate here...the argument could also be made that if one is trying to unload a $500 horse just before winter while hay prices are up, a seller should be prepared to try and set themselves apart from the rest of the $500 and under horses out there by representing the horse accurately (correct height falls into that category).

Bottom line is, it's a buyer's market. Temper tantrums and excuses don't get a horse sold. Even if someone is being a big meanie-pants ya just gotta suck it up, say "my bad this is the actual height" or whatever and move on. *If* the posters were "trolling" her to get a rise from her she gave them exactly what they wanted. And heck for all we know "Poster 1" was legitimately interested in the horse. All that person asked for initially was clarification on height and if the horse was buddy sour. Par for the course questions from a potential buyer (I've asked about buddy and barn sour issues on every horse I've ever bought, it's important to me since I ride alone most of the time). Who knows? She could've blown a sale by by getting her panties all twisted trying to defend hubby's creative horse measuring system.

If I were interested in a horse and got that kind of response simply trying to get a good idea of the horse's height and whether it has a vice that would affect how I use it, I'd move on to the next couple dozen ads for horses in that price range. Not like there is any shortage of them.

In NZ, the measurement system was (not sure if it still is) in places metric. So 14, 14.25, 14.5, 14.75. Not all countries (cough, cough) subscribe to imperial.

In NZ, we measure in metric e.g 147cm OR the traditional hands high 14.2hh, not as far as I'm aware a combination of the two. We do have our fair share of speshul people who have their own speshul measuring system though.

Anybody wanting a "real" education and a BIG headache should check out the Tulsa, Ok. CL ads. They are "creative" to say the least. You learn to read, chuckle and move on...unless you can read between the lines!!!

Anyone else think immediately that people need to learn to let sleeping dogs lie? My personal opinion is that unless you are seriously interested in the horse, there is no need to correct spelling, grammar or other mistakes in an ad.

Then I remembered this is COTH and denegrading other ads is a favorite pasttime here. Apparently, this is necessary for some people to feel better about their own shortcomings.